egree than formerly, act destructively upon marriage.

Monogamous marriage became, from the start, an object of material
speculation. The man who marries endeavors to wed property, along with a
wife, and this was one of the principal reasons why daughters, after
being at first excluded from the right to inherit, when descent in the
male line prevailed, soon again reacquired the right. But never in
earlier days was marriage so cynically, in open market, so to speak, an
object of speculation; a money transaction, as it is to-day. To-day
trading in marriage is frequently conducted among the property
classes--among the propertyless the practice has no sense--with such
shamelessness, that the oft-repeated phrase concerning the "sanctity" of
marriage is the merest mockery. This phenomenon, as everything else, has
its ample foundation. At no previous period was it, as it is to-day,
hard for the large majority of people to raise themselves into a
condition of well-being, corresponding to the then general conceptions;
nor was at any time the justified striving for an existence worthy of
human beings so general as it is to-day. He who does not reach the goal,
feels his failure all the more keenly, just because all believe to have
an equal right to enjoyment. _Formally_, there are _no_ rank or class
distinctions. Each wishes to obtain that which, according to his
station, he considers a goal worth striving for, in order to come at
fruition. But many are called and few are chosen. In order that one may
live comfortably in capitalist society, twenty others must pine; and in
order that one may wallow in all manner of enjoyment, hundreds, if not
thousands, of others must renounce the happiness of life. But each
wishes to be of that minority of favored ones, and seizes every means,
that promise to take him to the desired goal, provided he does not
compromise himself too deeply. One of the most convenient means, and,
withal, nearest at hand, to reach the privileged social station, is the
_money-marriage_. The desire, on the one hand, to obtain as much money
as possible, and, on the other, the aspiration after rank, titles and
honor thus find their mutual satisfaction in the so-called upper classes
of society. There, marriage is generally considered a business
transaction; it is a purely conventional bond, which both parties
respect externally, while, for the rest, each often acts according to
his or her own inclination. Marriage for poli